Chapter 3 3

Aiden's lips pressed against Celestia and his hands searched lower. Finding the top of her panties he slid them off her ass and left her fully exposed. He has barely clad himself with his shirt hanging open to reveal his ripped, movie stars six-pack and tousled 'I'm ready to fuck you now' hair.

"So what would you like to talk about today?" Eddie's voice was soft, unhurried, gentle, and wrenched Celestia back from her reverie into reality. She looked at him as though he had just appeared out of thin air before her. Since the news of her disciplinary hearing, she had been meeting with her counseling supervisor at least once a week just to keep her on track. He was the only person who knew how deeply the whole ethics committee thing was getting to her.

The highly experienced psychologist was tall, good-looking, and ruggedly handsome in a blonde blue-eyed sort of way, but Celestia felt no attraction to him physically or romantically. As a therapist who she respected and looked up to, however, she certainly felt drawn to him and the truth was that just at the moment he was the support to her that no-one else in her life could be.

"Celestia. Did you hear me?" he said.

"I'm sorry Eddie, " she shook her head.

"I'm so distracted lately and today I had this unusual client--" she cut herself off. She hadn't planned to talk about her unsettling experience with Aiden Hermanes. She had other much more pressing things to deal with.

"Unusual? How so?" Eddie smiled at her in his comforting big brother's way.

"Not unusual just... different. Look, can we forget about him--"

"Him?"

"Yeah, it was a guy, just some guy--"

"You said he was an unusual client and you mentioned him as a reason for your being distracted. I think that might be worth discussing, don't you?"

"Can we come back to him later?

I got the letter today with the date for my hearing. It's getting to me Eddie, no matter what I do I just can't shake this anxiety."

Eddie didn't say a word.

"It's next week. and this could be it. All those years of hard work and dedication, gone. For nothing. Just because of one tiny, stupid..."

Eddie waited.

"God damn you, " Celestia said.

"Why are you so good at this?"

Her supervisor smiled.

She knew he wouldn't let it go and she knew he was right. Hermanes was an issue. It was no accident that she had mentioned him, she knew better than that. In psychotherapy, there was no such thing as an innocent slip of the tongue. Sure she was worried about the hearing but somehow her encounter with the incredibly handsome and rich young man was playing on her mind, unsettling her. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her supervisor about it though.

She needed her work than ever and if he advised her not to take him on as a client then she would feel obliged to take that advice.

"I'm good with you Celestia. I know you. Now, why don't you tell me what's been eating you today."

A standoff ensued. Celestia knew the game well--she had used it often enough herself. The power of silence, the waiting, the openness, and lack of judgment. Worst of all she knew how effective it was and she could feel it working now. She felt tears begin to come, as they so often did in Eddie's office, the tears she denied herself anywhere else in her life.

Eddie pushed a box of quilted, floral tissues towards her.

She snapped one angrily from the box, wiped her eyes, and then blew her nose.

"Screw you, Eddie, " she said and he just smiled.

"Come on Celestia, we're running out of time and you're acting like a new client on the first day. Stop avoiding and let's deal with this issue head-on, whatever it is. Have I ever let you down?"

"Okay, you win. I got the letter about the hearing today and--"

"The guy Celestia. Tell me about the guy."

"Jesus Christ almighty, okay, okay. There was a client today and he wanted to..."

"He wanted to what?"

Eddie watched her like a hungry hawk. He was an excellent psychotherapist and very well respected in his field. He could smell a psychological rat a mile off.

"He flirted with me, " Celestia cringed inside. She had never lied to Eddie in all of their time together and it pained her to feel herself dodging the issue at stake.

Eddie waited for more, wanted to know more.

"I had the feeling he wasn't serious about therapy at all."

"I'm not getting why this is so upsetting Celestia. Why don't you tell me about the flirting?"

Celestia bit her lip as Eddie fixed her in his gaze. She didn't feel like going into detail but it would be better than coming clean and talking about the offer of a retainer to sign off on fake therapy sessions.

"He said it was a problem for him that he found me attractive."

Eddie made a note in his pad.

"He said he knew I was one of the best new psychotherapists in the city but that he hadn't expected me to be the most beautiful as well."

He didn't move, he didn't blink he was just staring at her waiting for more.

"He said my gorgeous green eyes had made him uncomfortable from the first moment I looked at him."

Eddie's eyes dropped from her momentarily but then darted back again. It only took a microsecond but it was like a slap in the face of Celestia. He never reacted that way. He was hiding something. Or more accurately, failing to hide something. Talking about herself in these terms was profoundly awkward for Celestia--she had to force the words out, but why would Eddie look awkwardly away from her?

Her supervisor cleared his throat.

"Do you want to, uh, tell me why these remarks made you feel so uncomfortable?"

"I... I guess I'm just not used to hearing those things and certainly not from a client like this."

There was a short silence.

"Like what?" he asked.

The feeling of being trapped was excruciating, but she knew from experience that this was often the precursor to a breakthrough, an insight of some kind. She sighed deeply and looked down at the floor while she spoke.

"This new client, he's young, extremely arrogant, good-looking, obviously wealthy--"

"Good-looking?"

"Among other things."

"But you said 'good-looking'."

"Yes."

"How good looking?"

"Very. I would say unusually attractive."

He was silent for a moment, deep in thought. that I can't even read.

"Are you attracted to him?" he asked.

"Of course not." she bit back, far too quickly.

There was another silence.

She felt her exasperation rise. It always did when he was onto something. The man was like a blood-hound when it came to human analysis.

"Maybe a little bit, " she conceded.

"How little is a little bit?"

"He reminds me of a guy I had a crush on in high school."

"I don't imagine you as ever having had a crush on anyone."

It was an odd comment, but she instinctively trusted her supervisor. He had guided her through so many difficult encounters in the past.

"Well, I did. A terrible one. I was a total geek and he was a total jock. An arrogant ass, just like this guy."

"And what happened?"

"I fantasized about him. Just briefly."

"Well I presumed you would, it was a teenage crush after all."

God damn it.